Means for filling and packing



Oct; 28, 1941. I JQHJDRiSCOLL ETl'AL ,25

MEANs' FOR FILLING AND PACKING Filed Nov. 10, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig:2

o o H D 1N\;ENTOR.

, $01 71 rzaco Y BY Ja'chard fprz'scall Fig: 1 2/ ATTORNEY.

Oct. 28, 1941. J. H. DRISCOLL ETAL MEANS FOR FILLING AND PACKiNG FiledNov. 10, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. .71! flriscoll hardfibris'coll4 4 W J n E h c m 03: G 0 n m f Y m m P A R 5, 5 m P m T v 1 A m u N b OAmw P l s m w PACK\NG CHAMBE ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 28, 1941 MEANS r-on FILLING AND PACKING John H. Driscoll,Edgewater, N. 3., and Richard J.

Driscoll, White Pia ins, N. Y.

Application November 10, 1937, Serial No. 173,894 9 Claims. (Cl. 226-48)This invention relates to machines for filling and packing containers,bags or casings with granular material such as beet pulp, cyanamid, zincoxide, bran, granulated cork, oat hulls, grains of all kinds, and,generally, any free or semi-free" material which may be caused to flowthrough a supply pipe.

Heretofore, it has been found exceedingly difficult if not impossible tospeedily fill a bag or container having a relatively small opening bymeans of an augur-type filling device. In order to obtain packing speedwith a machine of this type, it is at present necessary to use a.widemouthed bag and an augur of such diameter and sizethat the entiretop of the bag must be left open for filling purposes.

closure, the waste space created by the escape of air from the bagpermits a relaxation of pressure upon the closure and a consequentdusting out of the contents of the bag.

A further object of this invention therefore,

is to provide a machine for filling and packing bags of the pre-sewntype above described at a speed at least approximately equal to that of.

other filling or packing machines, but which will nevertheless pack insuch a manner that the material will not be aerated and will be packedsolidly thus leaving no waste space, making it possible to use a smallerand less expensive bag This necessitates v a separate sewing or otherclosing operation upon the bag after itis filled, and requires that thebag have suflicient excess or waste material to permit the folding overfor sewing or other closing operation, The use of a pre-sewn bag whichas a relatively small opening which may autoltically or readily beclosed, such as the Bates .alve bags described in Patents Nos. 810,318and 907,557 (issued Jan. 16, 1906, and Dec. 22*, 1908,

respectively) would be a distinct advantage in that it saves the addedwork required in the operation of sewing or. tying the bag closedafterit is filled.

Accordingly, an object of our invention is to provide a machine of theaugur type which may fill and pack with speed through a small openingand may thus be used in connection with bags of the type generallydescribed as "presewn."

Since, heretofore, theuse of augur-type filling machines were found tobe disadvantageous for packing pre-sewn bags, it has been necessary touse for such purpose machines of the rotary type such as the BatesPacker. means of filling a pre-sewn bag thus far used,

it is found that the material filled is aerated to such an extent thatwithin a short period after filling, the material filled has settledwhen the large volume; and the augur of such machine In .any such 40 inthe first instance, and creating a condition which will prevent dustingout of the contents of the bag.

Heretofore, it has been found that the packing speed. of a fillingmachine of the augur type is limited to the extent that the machineloses efilciency and packing speed when the augur,

rotates at a speed greater than 500 to 1000 R. P. M., different machinesbeginning to lose their emciency at different points within this-range.

Where the augur speed is greatly increased, it 7 r is found that thematerial merely lays up against the augur and does not enter its vanesfor speedy v transmission downwards into the bag. Owing to this fact, itis necessary, in order to obtain speed with-an augur-type machine, topack in is made of such a size that the entire top of the bag must beleft open to permit the entry of material from the augur. This, ofcourse,

requires that the augur-type Packing machine be a heavy cumbersomeaffair with concomitant ly greater cost,

Accordingly, a further object of this invention is to provide a methodfor filling and packing a bag by means ofa relatively small and lightaugur-type machine in which the augur may be caused to rotate atrelatively unlimited speeds, as high as of the order of 2150 R. P. M.and higher." With such speed, we have found that an augur may be make topack through an openair has seeped out. Owing to this condition, it mgas small as two inches in diameter. at speed is now necessary to usebags much, larger than are ultimately required so that the bag may wastespace at the top of a one hundred poundgreater than that of any knownaugur-type ma- 1 chine and at least approximately equal to that 01 othertypes of filling machines. And that such machine notonly willpack andde-aerate,

but is not limited to exceedingly d y flowable bag. Aside from the addedexpense incurred in I the use of a larger bag,--in such pre-sewn bags ashave a closure which is maintained by the material, but may also packmaterialwhlch would tack" or wad in a filling machine ot the rotary typesuch as the Bates Packer.

It is now necessary to build machines of the pressure of the contents ofthe bag upon the augur type with speciflc'dimensions and clear.

' ances for specific products. An augur machine that will pack one kindof material such as pulverized zinc oxide cannot be used with anyefficiency to pack another 'type such as beet pulp, A particular machinemay thus be used advantageously to pack only a particular product.

.There'fore, a further object of our invention is to provide an augurtype filling and packing machine which may be readily adjustable for usewith diversified materials.

, Further objects and uses of this invention will be apparent from thefollowing drawings and specification in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of our improved augur type filling andpacking machine. Figure 2 is a front elevation of the machine ofFigure 1. 4

Figure 3 is a sectional view of our machine taken on the line 3-3 ofFigure 2.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on-the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

We have here illustrated the simplest embodiment of our filling andpacking machine. The material to be packed is retained in a largecontainer or supply bin, l. A suitable timed feeding device such as abelt feed conveyor of the conventional type dribbles the granularmaterial, to be packed into the' chute 2 from which such material dropsby gravity into the inverted cone 3 striking the augur ,4 (Figure 3)angularly at its top and side. A motor 5 (Figures 1 and 2) through abelt drive 6 causes the augur 4 to rotate in a counterclockwisedirection indicated by the arrow 1, that being the direction opposite tothat in which the vane of the augur descends.

The material is packed down by the augur 4 toward the bottom of theinverted cone 3 and is then forced out through the spout 8 to theopening 9.

The foregoing is merely a description of the through.

area of the surface of portion B of the vane where the downthrust of thevane again compensates for the narrowing of the cone3 so that thematerial is now partially compressed and the same weight of materialmoves at a constant rate of speed in spite of the confined space it mustpass In the same manner, the material is forced into contact with astill greater area of the surface of portion C of the vane, and isalmost solidly compressed at portion D of the vane, where the clearancebetween the vane and the wall of the cone is one fourth the clearance atportion A of the vane. E, E, E of the vane of .the augur is then toremove the packed material from the packing chamber I2 through the spout8 \and out of the opening 9 into the bag l0. To assist the packingoperation, we have found it advantageous to decrease the pitch of thevane of the augur 4 gradually toward the packing chamber IZ so that thedistance between portions B and C of the vane is less than that betweenportions A and B, and the distance between portions C and D less thanvthat between B and C. We have also found that an additional vane W, X, Yarranged on the augur between portions B, C and Dv of the main vaneassist in packing down the material so that a greater amount of materialmay be fed into thetop of the cone. Since portions E, E, E of the vanemust now remove the material which has been compressed and must do sowith sufficient speed to prevent material from backing up into the cone,the shaft of the augur 4 is decreased in and course of the granularmaterial from the original supply bin into the bag "I. What is far moreimportant is that the invention here shown will fill and pack at muchgreater speed than maof the essence.

The material enters the cone at approximately the region ll. At the topof the cone, the clearance between the vane of the augur and the I wallof t e cone'is relatively large, such clearance gradually decreasingtoward the bottom of the cone where' the clearance is small. Thus,

the clearance between the portion A of the vane and the wall of cone 3is such that the material may. flow freely past such portion A,beingnevertheless assisted in its downward progress by the down thrustgiven by the edge of portion A of l the vane. The speed of revolution ofthe augur' l is such as to permit this slight contact of the materialand the edge of portion A of the vane to.

so increase the rate of fiow of the material that the same weight ofmaterial entering the cone 3 at region ll may nevertheless pass'at aconstant rate of speed to the narrower portion of the cone .iust below.A s the material passes down to portion B'of the vane of ,the augur, thenarrowing diameter of the cone causes the wall of the cone to force thematerial into contact with a greater and the formation of the vanes ofthe augur arebelow the packing chamber l2 to the smallest diameterconsistent with strength so that portions E, E of the vane may havethegreatest possible area, and thesaid portions E,E of the vane are furtherpitched at the greatest possible angle for swift removal of the materialthrough the spout8, the pitch increasing .toward the opening 9. Theclearance in the spout 8 is as small as it is possible to make itwithout interfering with the rotation of the augur 4. The additionalvane,

, W, X, Ygives not merely added capacity and packing power but alsoserves to balance the augur during revolution and eliminates thenecessity for an additional balancing vane at the bottom of the augurwhich may interfere with the speed of exit of the material.

It will thus be'obvious that the essential consideration here is thecombination of cone and augur and the critical relationships betweenthem. The spout 8 and the portions E, E of the vane are merelyincidental but useful means for taking away the material as soon as it-is packed down. The proper relative dimensions as to allow room foradditional supply. Lower in the cone, the clearances must diminish sothat I the material will be packed solidly into the vanes,

much and thus leave a void in the packing area.

For the proper operation of the machine, we have found that all thematerial should not be thrown down the chute 2 at one time. Suflicientplay must be given to the granular material so The function of portionsthat the vane of the augur may act upon it.

, great speed. The dribbling herein described is not intended to meanthe slow dripping ofmaterial, but a situation in which one hundredpounds of material may fall in a steady flow over afew seconds insteadof all at once. We have found that with an experimental model witha'spout, 8, two inches in diameter, we have been able to was removedfrom portion A of the 'vane, only a narrow strip of chalk was removedadjacent fill and pack materials at speeds greater than heretoforeaccomplished. Since most packing machines are generally built in such amanner that they have two or three spouts so that an operator may adjusta bag to one spout while the other is filling, capacities are given forsuch compound machines. ,With one spout, we have been able to pass fivepounds of poultry mash per second; thus, a two spout machine builtaccording .to our invention, and of an experimental nature only, canpack as 'much as 350 one hundred pound bags of poultry mash per hour.And this may be done with a pre-sewn bag, through a two inch opening andin such a manner that the material is not aerated and may thus be packedtightly and will remain tightly packed.

To illustrate the exact relationships of a suc cessful experimentalmodel made according to our invention, Figures 1, 2 and 3 show the exactproportional relationships of the augur, cone and chute of such model,the exit spout 8 of such model being two inches in diameter and the topof the cone on the line l3--l3 being five inches in diameter. Theeconomy resulting from the use of such a small machine, which is atleast as effective in operation as other filling and/or packingmachines, will be apparent. Of course, in-larger machines, or differentkinds of machines made in accordance with our invention, clearances maybe increased; the number and type of feeding. packing and exit vanes maybe changed; but theymust all be formed in 9.0-.

cordance with principles which will now be clear.

In every case, the cone 3 must-be designed and built to conform with theaugur l, to produce the decreasing clearances toward thev packingchamber, to permit a packing of the augur at high speed and thesubsequent exit of the compressed material through the spout 8 into thebag In.

The combination of regulated pre-packing in the bottom of the cone andhigh speed rotation of the augur is necessary to deliver volume througha small spout adapted tobe fitted into a bag of the pre-sewn type with asmall opening such as that shown in-bag ID of Figure 3. Indeed, we' havefound that if the machine is stopped while it is packing and the spout 8removed, the material'packed is seen to be solidly packed into the vaneof the augur between the portions of the vanes D and Y and the portion Eimmediately below, showing the manner in to the edge of vane B, vanes W,C and K were progressively polished clean closer to the shaft of theaugur,.and vanes D, Y andE were polished entirely clean; showing themanner in which the decreasing clearances, between the cone and augur,caused a progressive packing of the ma-,

terial. I

When relatively light material is packed, there is a tendency for suchmaterial to whirl when striking the portions M and N of the vane of theaugur, where such vane tapers off. A very small amount of such materialmay remain suspended by such whirling action. Placing a shield l4 oversuch portions M and N of the vane,

so that a' smooth conical surface is presented,

to the flowing material around which it may readily flow, prevents suchwhirling and suspension. After'this-shield'is' in place, we found thatobservation through a small hole at l5 "showed the material apparentlyfalling straight down toward the packing chamber. To further preventleakage and dusting from the machine itself, we provide a felt gasket IBat the opening I'l through which the augur shaft enters the cone.

As material isejected under compression and pressure, the bag is filledto capacity and beyond if held to the spout. This eliminates aeratingand the consequent settling which produces loosely filled bags andallows a' smaller bag to be used,-thereby reducing bag cost. As the bagis filled tightly, the contents do not shift or breathe" when handled;andthe added outward pressure of the contents causes the valve l8or asimilar opening in the pre-sewn bag to seal more tightly and furtherprevent dusting and leakage.

In addition, by raising or lowering. the augur fractions of an inch, wecan adapt the same machine to pack diversified materials. Thus, forfreely flowing pulverized material, the augur should be lowered so thatthe clearances are at a minimum; and for coarse materials, such as beetpulp, the augur should be raised to increase the clearances. At l8, wehave'shown a means for marking the augur shaft 'for degrees ofcoarseness, so that the operatormay adjust the augur shaft higher orlower in its mounting according to the gauge of coarseness desired.Other means of automatically raising and lowering the augur and othermeans of indicating the correct ad- Justment'will be obvious.

In various experiments with the same machine,

' we havefound' that we can get speeds at least as which this inventioncompresses the material a for packing at the entrance to the spout 8. We

have also found that the cooperation between the walls of the cone 8 andthe'augur is illus- 707 permitting even a larger exit spout, a machineof tratedeby an experiment in which we applied chalk to the undersurface of the vanes of the augur and to the top surfaces" as well. Wefound that, after packing, virtuallynoneof the chalk great and oftengreater speeds with many materials than heretofore obtained. Thus, usingthe same cone spout and augur. we can, with our experimental model, inaddition to the figures stated above for poultry mash, pack at the rateof more than 610 ninety-four pound bags of cement per hour or onehundred pound bags of bran per hour,-with a two spout machine. We havealso found it possible topack and compress such materials as asbestos,ground cork and beet pulp.

In addition, since the contents of the bag are to be packed tightly, thevalve or other opening 01' thepre-sewn bag may be made larger, thuscorrespondingly increased capacity, anda greater flllingspeed.'. I Manyother objects and uses of our invention will now be apparent to thoseskilled in the art.

' the vane descends; me

1 so arranged that its diameter decreases toward the base thereoi; anauger extending along the axis of said chamber, the clearance betweenthe wall ofsaid chamber and the auger gradually decreasing toward' thebase; means for rotating the auger in a direction opp site to that inwhich for creating a steady flow o1 material into the top of saidchamber, the rotation of the auger and the said decreasing clearanceforcing said material into said auger; said auger in its rotationcompressing the material toward the base of said chamber; and means forremoving said material from the base of said chamber, the pitch of thesaid auger decreasing toward the base of said chamber, and said augerhaving an additional vane interpolated between the spirals of its mainvane in that portion of l the auger immediately above the base of saidchamber, said decreased pitch and interpolated vane assisting in furthercompression of the material.

2. A machine for packing and flllinggranular material into a container,comprising in combiauger in a direction opposite to that in which thevane descends; means for creating a steady flow.

of material into the top of said-chamber; the rotation of the auger andthe said decreasing bag; an augur extending along the axis of said beingdiametered and pitched to feed and pack a predetermined amount into saidpacking chamher; the vane of said spout augur being filled in 'saidpacking chamber; the pitch of said augur being increased downwardly fromflight to flight in said spout; said spout and the portion of the augurin said spout being proportioned to have a capacity and speed ofejection substantially equal to the capacity of the feed portion of theaugur to fill said packing chamber.

5. An apparatus for packing and filling gran-' 'ular material into acontainer, said apparatus comprising in combination a hopper, a packingchamber and a spout; said spout being of a size adapting it forinsertion into the valve opening 'of a bag; an augur'extending along theaxis of clearance forcing said material'into said auger;

rial toward the base of said chamber; and means for removing saidmaterial from the-base of said chamber, said means comprising a spoutimmediately below the base of said chamber, the said auger extendinginto said spout, the pitch of the said auger being increased in saidspout to assist in rapid removal.

3. A machine for packing and filling granular material into a container,comprising in combination a conically shaped chamber having a wall'soarranged that its diameter decreases toward the chamber, said meanscomprising a spout immedi ately below the base of said chamber, the saidauger extending into said spout, said auger having a decreased diameterin said spout, means for raising and lowering said auger; said raisingand/or lowering said auger being adapted to adjust the machine to packmaterials at the-en- 1 I trance to the spout at difiering densities.

4. An apparatus for packing and filling granular material into acontainer, said apparatus. comprising incombination a hopper, packingchamber and a spout; said spout being of a size adaptingit Ior insertioninto the valve openingot a 75 saidauger in its rotation compressing thematesaid hopper, packing chamber and spout; said augur having a reduceddiameter in said packing chamber and spout; said augur having a largerdiameter in said hopper; said packing chamber being at the lowestextremity of and in communication with said hopper; the portion of theaugur in said hopper being diametered and pitched to feed and pack apredetermined amount into said packing chamber; the vane of said spoutaugur being filled in said packing chamber; the pitch of said augurbeing increased downwardly from flight to flight in said spout; saidspout and the portion of the augur in said spout being proportioned tohave a capacity and speed of ejection substantially equal to thecapacity of the feed portion of the augur to fill said packing chamber;and an adjustment for raising and lowering the augur which varies thecubic dimension of the packing chamber and the compressive action 4thereof in packing the vane of the spout portion of the augur.

6. An apparatus for packing and filling granular material into acontainer; said apparatus comprising in combination a hopper, a packingchamber and a spout; said spout being of a size adapting it forinsertion into the valve opening of a bag; an augur extending along theaxis of said hopper, packingchamber and spout; said augur having areduced diameter in said packing chamber and spout, and a largerdiameter in said hopper; said packing chamber being at the lowestextremity of and in communication with said hopper; the portion of saidaugur in said hopper rial to be packed; said packing chamber beingproportioned to compress said material, the vane of the spout augurbeing filled in said packing chamber with said compressed material at a.predetermined rate; means for varying the cubic dimension or the packingchamber and the com- 'pressive action thereof in packing the vane 01 thespout portion of the augur; the pitch of said augur being increaseddownwardly from flight to flight in said spout; said spout and theportion of the augur in said spout'being proportioned to have a capacityand speed of election substan-' tially equal to the capacity of the feedportion.

or the augur to fill said packing chamber.

7. An apparatus for packing and filling granular material into acontainer, said apparatus comprising in combination a hopper, a packingchamber and a spout; said spout being of a size adapting'it forinsertion into the valve opening of a bag; an augur extending along theaxis of said hopper, packing chamber and spout; said augur having areduced diameter in said packing chamber and spout, and a largerdiameter in said hopper; said packing chamber being at the lowestextremity of and in communication with said hopper; the portion of theaug'ur in said hopper being diametered and pitched to feed and pack apredetermined quantity of material at a predetermined rate into saidpacking chamber; means for increasing the supply of material tothepacking chamber and for balancing and equalizing the pressure of saidmaterial in the packing chamber, said means comprising an added vane forthe feed portion of the augur interpolated between the flights of theprincipal vane of said augur immediately above the packing chamber; thevane of said spout augur being packed with said material in itscompressed state in said packing chamber; the pitch of said augur 1being increased downwardly from flight to flight in said spout; saidspout and the portion of the augur in said spout being proportioned tohave a capacity and speed of ejection substantially equal to thecapacity of the feed portion of the augur to fill said packing chamber.

8. An augur apparatus for packing and filling granular material at highspeed, said apparatus comprising in combination a hopper, a packingchamber and a spout; said spout being of a size adapting it forinsertion into the valve opening of a bag; an augur extending along theaxis of said hopper, packing chamber and spout; said augur having areduced diameter in said packing chamber and spout, and a largerdiameter in said hopper; said packing chamber being at the lowesthopper; the portion of said augur in said hopper being diametered andpitched to feed and pack a predetermined quantity of material at apredetermined rate into said packing chamber; an added vane interpolatedbetween the flights of the principal vane, of the augur immediatelyabove the packing chamber; said added vane immediately above the packingchamber equalizing and balancing the pressure within the pack-' ingchamber; the vane of the spout augur being packed in said packingchamber, the material chamber.

- extremity of and in communication with said 9. An apparatus forpacking and filling granular material into a container, said apparatuscomprising in combination a hopper, a packing chamber and a spout; anaugur extending along the axis of saidhopper, packing chamber and spout;said augur being of a reduced diameter in said spout and of a largerdiameter in said hopper; the spout portion of the augur extending intosaid packing chamber; the portion of said augur in said hopper beingdiametered and pitched to feed a predetermined quantity of material at apredetermined rate into said packing chamber; said material beingcompressed to its greatest density in said packing chamber; an addedvane interpolated between the flights of the principalvane of the augurin that portion of the augur immediately above the packing chamber, thepressure upon the material in the packing chamber being therebyequalized and balanced; the 'vaneoi the spout portion of the augur beingpacked with said material in its compressed state in said packingchamber; the spout portion of the augur being adapted to remove saidmaterial from said packing chamber.

' JOHN H. DRISCOLL.

RICHARD J. DRISCOIL.

